I know and I agree 100%. I can understand in certain situations if the performer looks like a child and they are facing the wrong person (ie. if Dom squashed Brock Lesnar), but 99% of the time its a stupid argument.
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Iâm very disappointed with the lack of build for Bucks/FTR 3. Month after month, WWE is proving the immense value of taking things slowly and building storylines to a crescendo. Meanwhile AEW is perpetually stuck in this slog of four month PPV periods and compartmentalizing all storylines within that structure.
Bucks vs FTR presents the easiest, most natural build to a match at Full Gear in November, but of course Tony has to rush to make a pretty looking card as soon as possible. It seems the plan is to make All In âTHE BIGGEST SHOW EVARâ or whatever, but perhaps this is coming at the expense of having a long term storyline that draws viewers to your television program as well. Iâm the resident noob of the âIWCâ so maybe someone can explain, is this what people mean by âhotshot bookingâ? Sure feels like it.
My alternative plan would have been to simply drop hints between FTR and the Bucks over the next few weeks with a wink and a nod toward All In. While both parties have separate matches at the show, itâs kind of understood by fans that something will be happening at the PPV between the two, and then your shoot the angle. Then youâve got a few months to build the program and the storyline properly before Full Gear. Instead it feels like weâre getting the chocolate sundae for dessert before we ever get to eat and enjoy the steak and broccoli main course.
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Alright Iâll take the bait and be the sacrificial lamb on this one. Yes, I think a wrestlerâs presentation still matters in 2023. Iâm that guy.
Itâs not that Cole shouldnât have a role because heâs too small. I think standing next to MJF in a tag team playing the smaller, faster guy, Cole looks amazing. But as a main event singles wrestler who is supposedly head and shoulders better and tougher than everybody else in the promotion (in kayfabe) itâs kind of hard to accept the guy who looks like me and my gamer buddies in that position. It doesnât mean you have to look like Brian Cage. Even someone like Ricochet isnât the biggest guy but heâs ripped enough that you can buy into it.
Itâs the same reason I prefer watching Rhea Ripley or Jamie Hayter over the likes of Alexa Bliss and Riho. Rhea and Jamie look like they could beat the piss out of half they guys on the roster. Thereâs something to be said for believability when youâre talking about singles wrestlers in the main event.
Thereâs a lot of hotshot booking in AEW. Not saying that has to be a bad thing, hot-shotting is basically what saved wrestling in the Attitude Era.
But they do a good job of balancing it out with good long-term stories, plus they hotshot matches that people want to see and that typically deliver in-ring.
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Problem with WWE hot shotting in the Vince era, was that he would hot shot a fresh match and have it go 2min with a distraction finish. You can do that from time to time, but when its constant, its an issue.
Not having a 36-minute Jay Uso match automatically makes it many, many levels above Summerslam 
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There is a line, but I think guys like Rey have proven that if you are talented enough and you look somewhat credible, size doesnt matter. Now if you had Paul Heyman go toe to toe with Roman, yes that looks stupid lol. But Adam Cole looks like an athlete, just because he isnt jacked IMO doesnt hurt him one bit.
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AEW doesnât need storylines.
They help but itâs not needed. The audience isnt a WWE audience that has been conditioned to want storylines.
They can put on a killer match with no real build and their fans will care
Multiple examples
FTR vs Briscoes
Omega vs Vikingo
Komander vs Jericho
Omega vs Osprey
BD vs Okada
Shida vs Toni
The fans want action more than storylines
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In fairness, to appease their existing 800K fan base that watch week to week youâre probably right. But if they want to pass the 2mil mark like WWE, they may need to improve in this regard.
Yes for existing fans. I think 4 years in itâs pretty obvious they wonât grow the audience much.
Iâve showed AEW to some non fans or WWE fans. They saw the OC gimmick and asked my why a guy put his hands in his pockets to climb a ladder and changed the channel.
Itâs not for everyone, much less so than WWE
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To maintain what theyâve got, yeah. But to this point, they almost donât have to book anything at all, right? People know that when they go to an AEW PPV it is going to be balls to the wall action and you are guaranteed to have a number of âholy shitâ moments. I bought floor seats to Forbidden Door on this premise, not knowing any of the matches and frankly not knowing much about most of the Japanese talents I was going to see. I just knew it would be awesome.
For my tastes, I guess I would like more focus on storylines and a little less focus on non-stop âwork rateâ type action. That may not be typical of the average AEW fan, but thatâs me. If you look at AEW in the last couple months, specifically with Collision, it certainly feels like theyâve been leaning more in my direction than they had in their first three years.
Iâll disagree here. And I certainly hope this isnât the case. Dynamite has shrunk its viewership over the last year. Theyâve literally run people off who used to watch regularly. So they could certainly at least grow back to the million viewers mark on a regular basis, which would be significant.
You compare that to WWE which has grown its business over the same time frame, thanks in large part to their engaging storylines which are captivating audiences. It could be argued that it would be harder for a larger company like WWE to grow its audience, as they have to essentially draw those fans from out of nowhere and require a bigger increase to have a measurable effect. If WWE is capable of growth during this period, why shouldnât AEW hold itself to a similar standard?
Finally, if you look at the difference in average viewership between each companyâs programming, youâre talking about well over a million people who are tuning into one but not the other. Either theyâve never heard of AEW, or simply donât care to watch. Youâve gotta think at least some of those people could be won over without alienating the existing hardcore audience. And that would constitute growth.
To be clear, I like AEW and want it to succeed. Like all businesses, theyâve gotta grow and evolve with the times as well. Theyâre moving in the right direction it seems, but I do feel itâs a missed opportunity with the Bucks/FTR rush job.
Edit: fucking hell Iâm writing essays out here. Sorry.
Rey is short but heâs still got some bulk to him. Even in the 90âs when he was smaller he was only going after the cruiserweight belt and was presented at a certain level, right? Iâm not gonna beleaguer the point because Iâm not trying to shit on the guy, but I donât think itâs that outlandish for people to notice Coleâs physique compared to just about anyone on the roster.
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WWE Rey did, WCW Ray was pretty small, but he also wrestled crusierweights so it didnât show as much. You make a point, but Reyâs also very short, I believe 5â3.
Cole is small, but IMO his in ring more then makes up for it.
You arenât wrong at all.
Iâll use an extreme example - Marko Stunt.
Even AEW had to realize at some point that he wasnât credible as a real wrestler competing against guys 3 times his size. So they cut him and removed him.
I donât think Adam Cole is that level but if a guy watching on TV thinks he can beat him up and this guy is beating Brock Lesnar - yeah it looks a little too silly.
Rey was an exception bc he was built and he had such amazing moves most people had not seen before.
Stunt definitely was past my line, I couldnât take him seriously. Cole on the other hand I put in the same category as Rey.
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I really donât think the FTR vs Bucks are drawing in more fans.
4 years in and their audience is smaller by all accounts (Tv ratings, most house shows and interest) and WWE is bigger than it was before.
There was time they weee closing in and itâs gone in reverse.
I think the biggest difference is AEW was born out of people hating in WWE. It was a bunch of fans would grow into watching New Japan because they were tired of Vixnes WWE and this was the next extension of that.
I tuned in because I didnât like WWE for years. I was hoping to have New Japan in America. It turns out that wasnât what it was, there was too much silliness in the product for me versus new Japan, and less true athletic competition as they did away with rankings etc. So, in the end it was like a hybrid of silly indie style and new Japan, which is still fun to watch but not what I was expecting.
what really changed was WWE was no longer the uncool product. Starting with NXT in morphing into the Triple H WWE fundamentally change to become something that AEW fans donât hate. They donât make fun of WWE, in fact, they chant for LA Knight, and Roman reigns at their own shows.
There is proof in a collision rating this week. Way more overlap than there was four years ago with AEW and WWE Fans. Itâs not like three or four years ago, where I doubt a summer slam, hurts to that degree. Now itâs not the AEW fans are rebelling against WWE, in fact, they seem to like both. And thatâs always going to hurt the number two brand.
If I am a non-wrestling fan tuning in for the first time, why would I choose AEw over WWE? One has obviously better production value, bigger, stars, and better storylines. The other offers you better in ring acroon, blood and ties to Japan but you kind of have to know those annd already for that to matter. You also have to really like the blood in violence of which Iâm not sure most people do - if they did this GCW crap would be more popular. itâs hard for a new wrestling fan to really think that product is better.
a few years ago I couldâve seen people picking AEW de novo because they didnât like the incoherent WWE stuff that seems to have gone away.
WWE has a good product now. Itâs hard to gain traction as the number 2 when they do
You watched it?
No chance. Zero interest in anything that long with those wrestlers. Everything Iâve read backs that up
I donât really agree there. They have one hot storyline - the bloodline - which is now sputtering. They have nothing else major planned, which is why they are dragging this storyline along for as long as possible.
A lot more interesting stuff happening in AEW. MJF/Cole is red hot and now it feels like we are finally getting Punk/FTR vs the Elite.
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OK, I just figured by the third or fourth swipe youâve taken at it, you bothered to watch it first.